Systems and methods to provide rewards based on purchased items

Abstract

A system includes a POS terminal configured to store a list of products/items eligible for rewards and/or discounts, check items purchased by a user via a transaction against the list to identify items eligible for rewards and/or discounts, aggregate the eligible items according to reward/discount categories, and provide information about the eligible items aggregated according to the categories in an authorization request for the transaction in a payment account of the user. The system further includes a transaction handler receiving the authorization request that contains the information aggregated according to the categories, and provide rewards and/or discounts to the transaction during the authorization and/or settlement of the transaction.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising
 receiving, in a computing apparatus configured in an electronic payment processing network, an authorization request for a payment transaction of a user to purchase a set of items, the authorization request containing reward information including
 a code identifying a reward category, and 
 a purchase price of a subset of the items to be purchased by the user via the payment transaction, items in the subset having been determined to be in the reward category; 
   providing, by the computing apparatus configured in the electronic payment processing network, rewards to the user based on the reward information received via the authorization request; and   adjusting, by the computing apparatus configured in the electronic payment processing network, a transaction amount requested in the authorization request to generate an authorization response for an adjusted transaction amount that includes a discount provided to the payment transaction according to the reward information received via the authorization request.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the authorization request does not include information for individual items in the subset. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the reward information summarizes items eligible for rewards based on reward categories. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the code is a first code identifying a first reward category; the purchase price is a first purchase price of a first subset of items to be purchased by the user via the payment transaction; and the reward information further includes:
 a second code identifying a second reward category, and   a second purchase price of a second subset of items to be purchased by the user via the payment transaction, items in the second subset having been determined to be in the second reward category.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the second subset of items and the first subset of items are mutually exclusive. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 communicating a list of items associated with the reward category to a transaction terminal, wherein the transaction terminal is configured to check the items to be purchased by the user via the payment transaction to identify the subset and summarize the subset for the reward category to generate the reward information.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the subset is summarized to include a single aggregated purchase price for the subset. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the subset is summarized to include a count of items in the subset. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the subset includes two or more items; and the authorization request does not include information of a particular item in the subset. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rewards are provided separately from the discount. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rewards are provided to a reward account of the user associated with a payment account in which the payment transaction is made. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, by the computing apparatus configured in the electronic payment processing network, whether or not the user is entitled to the rewards and the discount based at least in part on an identification of a payment account in which the payment transaction is made.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 generating the authorization response to indicate that the rewards and the discount have been provided to the user during processing of authorization of the payment transaction requested via the authorization request.   
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions configured to instruct a transaction terminal to perform a method, the method comprising:
 accessing, by the transaction terminal, a list of items that are associated with a code identifying a reward category;   receiving, in the transaction terminal, account information identifying a payment account of the user;   checking, by the transaction terminal, a set of items to be purchased by a user against the list to identify a subset of items to be purchased by the user, the subset being on the list;   computing, by the transaction terminal, a total purchase price of the subset of items;   generating, by the transaction terminal, an authorization request for a payment transaction in the payment account of the user to purchase the set of items,
 the authorization request containing reward information including 
 the code identifying the reward category, and 
 the total purchase price of the subset of items; 
   transmitting, by the transaction terminal, the authorization request into an electronic payment processing network.   
     
     
         15 . The computer storage medium of  claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining, by the transaction terminal, whether the user is entitled to a benefit related to the reward category;   in response to a determination that the user is entitled to the benefit, embedding the reward information in the authorization request generated by the transaction terminal.   
     
     
         16 . The computer storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the determination is based on the account information. 
     
     
         17 . The computer medium of  claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining, by the transaction terminal, whether or not to embed the reward information in the authorization request generated by the transaction terminal.   
     
     
         18 . The computer medium of  claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
 in response to a determination that a computing apparatus configured in the electronic payment processing network will use the reward information to determine whether the user is entitled to a benefit related to the reward category, embedding the reward information in the authorization request generated by the transaction terminal.   
     
     
         19 . A computing apparatus configured in an electronic payment processing network, the computing apparatus comprising:
 at least one microprocessor;   a network interface configured to communicate in the electronic payment processing network; and   a memory storing instructions configured to instruct the microprocessor to process an authorization request of a payment transaction in the electronic payment processing network, the authorization request identifying a transaction amount of the payment transaction for purchasing of a set of items from a merchant, the authorization request containing reward information summarizing the items according to reward category, the reward information including
 a code identifying a reward category, and 
 a total purchase price of a subset of the items to be purchased by the user via the payment transaction, items in the subset having been determined to be in the reward category; 
   wherein the total purchase price of the subset is different from a total purchase price of the set of items to be purchased by the user via the payment transaction.   
     
     
         20 . The computing apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the authorization request is one of:
 generated and transmitted from the computing apparatus into the electronic payment processing network; and   received in the computing apparatus from the electronic payment processing network.